Copying the way a desert beetle gets water, scientists have designed a membrane that can extract water from the air. Since all air contains water, even in the desert, this could provide a very inexpensive way to supply drinking water. This audio story describes an application of the idea of “biomimicry,” or using ideas from nature to solve technological problems. This can help solve the problem of scarce drinking water.
Story Length: 4:01
Living on Earth
AIR DATE: 11/16/2012
Gravity keeps the earth, moon and sun in orbit. It keeps us on the ground instead of floating in space. And yet, it is the weakest of all the forces. This public radio story explores the velocity in rockets, the shapes of planets, the trajectories of baseballs, and even the strength of the human leg bones.
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Changes in a neighborhood park in Illinois have affected the Northern White-Footed mice who live in the forest. In this public radio story you’ll hear from a scientist who is studying living mice today and comparing them to museum samples of dead mice to understand how they’ve changed and why. What they are finding is that the mice are growing much faster than their ancestors.
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Have you every wondered how mosquitoes survive a rainstorm? The mosquitoes receive a pelting as if, on a human scale we were being hit with huge boulders! This public radio story describes the different experiments the researchers tried and how they discovered the secret to mosquitoes’ survival. Turns out… it’s all physics! This is a great example of the physics concepts of momentum and impulse.
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In this story we hear from the head of Ecovative, a company that uses mycelium fibers from fungi to create useful and environmentally-friendly products. The audio story discusses the advantages of using mycelium fibers in place of plastics and foams, as well as the challenges faced by the inventors in trying to create useful products. The Engineering design process is described, as well as how scientists used this process to get to where they are today. Students will get to explore the properties of Ecovative’s products, and evaluate their usefulness. Listen to this story and think about the idea of technological trade-offs.
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